Clan Cultivation: Starting from Foundation Establishment on Mount Luoxia

The ice coffin was surrounded by four enormous ice pillars.

Each icicle is engraved with densely packed characters—

That was the enlightenment of Xuanming Zhenjun's lifelong cultivation, and the complete inheritance of the "Xuanming Ice Soul True Scripture" and the "Li Huo Xuanming Technique".

Above the ice coffin floated a fist-sized orb, its entire body shimmering with azure and crimson light.

The precious pearl slowly rotated, and with each rotation, countless tiny runes flew out of the pearl and disappeared into the four ice pillars.

"This is……"

Shuyu's pupils contracted slightly, and her voice trembled, "The natal golden core of True Monarch Xuanming!"

Li Xiaoyao was deeply shaken.

Golden Elixir.

That is the realm above the Purple Mansion, the foundation upon which cultivators refine their Purple Mansion Cave Heaven to its ultimate level, transforming the illusory into the real.

A single Golden Core is the culmination of a Golden Core True Monarch's lifelong cultivation.

After the fall of Xuanming Shangqing Zhenjun, his golden core was actually preserved intact?

"wrong."

Li Xiaoyao suddenly spoke, his gaze fixed on the golden core, "Fellow Daoist Shuyu, look around the golden core."

Shuyu gazed intently into the distance.

The golden elixir slowly rotated, and within the surrounding halo, faint, extremely fine, almost imperceptible black threads could be seen.

The black lines writhed slowly like living things, coiling around the golden core, as if...

"Extracting the essence of the Golden Core."

Li Xiaoyao's voice was deep, "This is not a natural preservation; someone deliberately left the golden core here and used an array to slowly extract its power."

"Who would...?"

Before the words were finished—

"Clap clap clap".

A burst of crisp applause came from deep within the hall.

The two suddenly turned around.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows at the far end of the hall.

He was a middle-aged man dressed in a black robe, with delicate features and a playful smile on his lips.

His aura was as deep as an abyss, and a faint black mist swirled around him. With each step he took, the obsidian ground beneath his feet would tremble slightly.

Late stage of Zifu (紫府).

At least in the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm.

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

The man in black robes clapped as he approached, saying, "It is truly a surprise that you two young friends have made it this far."

"That test of ice and fire, I barely managed to pass by losing three of my men back then."

He stopped ten feet away, observing Li Xiaoyao and Shuyu with great interest.

"I have waited here for three hundred years, and finally I have obtained the key that allows me to enter the core alive."

Li Xiaoyao's pupils contracted slightly.

key?

Shuyu coldly asked, "Who are you?"

The man in black robes smiled slightly, raised his hand, and a jet-black token appeared in his palm.

The token was engraved with a twisted, seemingly burning rune—

Dark Abyss Demon Sect.

"I am Li Yuan, the seventh protector of the Dark Abyss Demon Sect."

He put away the token and his gaze fell on the golden pill above the ice coffin. "I have guarded this golden pill for three hundred years, but I have never been able to collect it completely."

"That old bastard Xuanming left a contingency plan before he died. His golden core was sealed by his lingering will, and the seal can only be broken when two auras of the same origin, ice and fire, touch it simultaneously."

He looked at Li Xiaoyao and Shuyu, his smile deepening.

"I cultivate demonic arts, which have neither ice nor fire attributes. Forcing an attack will only destroy my golden core."

So, I've been waiting—waiting for those two fools to come to me and break the seal for me.

"Now, you've arrived."

Li Xiaoyao's heart sank.

This is a setup!!!

From the moment Shuyu obtained that fragment of the ancient book, it was all part of a scheme.

It was bait deliberately released by the Dark Abyss Demon Sect to lure cultivators like them who considered themselves "destined."

"Li Yuan, right?"

Li Xiaoyao suddenly laughed, "Are you so sure we'll break the seal for you?"

Li Yuan raised an eyebrow: "Otherwise what? Do you have any other choice?"

"have."

Before Li Xiaoyao could finish speaking, the [Treading Clouds Shoes] flashed with light, and he instantly disappeared from the spot!

In the next instant, he appeared three feet behind Li Yuan, and the [Flowing Scenery] Pearl transformed into thousands of rays of light, shooting towards Li Yuan's back like a tidal wave!

At the same moment, Shuyu also moved.

She raised her hand, and the newly acquired icy blue light ball suddenly merged into her palm. A stream of extremely condensed icy cold energy shot out from her fingertips, heading straight for Li Yuan's face!

A pincer attack from both sides!

Li Yuan smiled.

He didn't dodge at all.

"boom--!"

The thousands of rays of light and the icy cold air struck Li Yuan simultaneously, but there was no reaction. They all disappeared into the black mist surrounding him without a trace.

"A new law?"

Li Yuan turned around, his smile growing wider. "I admit that the new law is indeed better than the old one."

"But you are only at the early stage of the Purple Mansion realm, while I am at the late stage. You two are two whole minor realms below me."

He raised his hand and gently shook it.

Li Xiaoyao and Shuyu groaned simultaneously as an invisible force surged from all directions, pinning them firmly to the spot!

"The gap, do you understand?"

Li Xiaoyao gritted his teeth, and activated the [Yuxia Tian] technique within his body at full power, causing the radiant light to frantically attack the binding force.

too strong.

The difference between the late stage and the early stage of the Purple Mansion realm is even greater than the difference between the Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion realms.

Moreover, although Li Yuan cultivates demonic arts, it is clearly a new system of laws, with no flaws to exploit at the level of laws.

"Stop struggling."

Li Yuan slowly walked towards the ice coffin. "Be a good boy and break the seal for me. If I'm in a good mood, I might give you a quick death."

He raised his hand, and a black mist transformed into chains that wrapped around Li Xiaoyao and Shuyu's necks, dragging them toward the ice coffin.

"Come, place your hands on the ice coffin."

Li Xiaoyao stared intently at the ice coffin and the golden pill wrapped in black threads.

He was not reconciled.

But he couldn't move.

The gap is too big.

Just then—

"Li Yuan, three hundred years have passed, and you still haven't made any progress."

An old yet gentle voice suddenly rang out in the hall.

Li Yuan's expression changed drastically!

He suddenly turned around!

A figure slowly walked in at the entrance of the hall.

A straw hat, a bamboo cane, and a gentle smile.

Xiaoxi Pavilion.

Li Yuan's pupils contracted slightly: "You... weren't you guarding outside?"

That ice and fire duality formation, without my token, is simply impossible…”

"Is it possible for no outsider to get through?"

Xiao Xiting interrupted him with a smile, "I have indeed not passed the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang test."

He paused, his smile growing even more gentle.

"I came in from outside."

Li Yuan was taken aback, then his expression changed drastically.

Did they come in from outside?

That means—

Behind Xiao Xiting, another figure slowly stepped into the hall.

He was an old man dressed in a green robe, with no aura emanating from him, as if he were just an ordinary mortal.

But Li Yuan only glanced at him, and the demonic sect protector, who was at the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm, became stiff and unable to move.

Li Yuan's lips trembled as he uttered two words:

"Golden Core..."

The old man in the green robe didn't look at him, but instead gazed at the golden pill wrapped in black threads above the ice coffin and sighed softly.

"Senior Brother Xuanming, eight thousand years have passed, and you're still so stubborn."

Senior Brother Xuanming?

Li Xiaoyao and Shuyu were both stunned.